Buying Chinese DVD sets?

[k8track]

Anyone have experience with buying multiple season DVD sets from sellers in China/Hong Kong?

Here is a seller from whom I am potentially interested in buying a complete season 1-4 dvd set of Star Trek Enterprise:
http://stores.ebay.com/m-t-s-Store_W0QQssPageNameZviQ3asibQ3astoreviewQQtZkm

I'm not at all interested in having "original premium US collectors sets"; I just want all the episodes cheap and don't care about the packaging. How are the quality of such sets (i.e. video quality)? Will these have all the special features intact? Anyone order something like this before?

I appreciate any insight.

[Kitsune Sniper]

BOOTLEG ALERT!

99% of the time these cheap sets are inferior quality bootlegs. And by inferior, I -do- mean inferior. Think MPEG1 low quality, artifact filled, awful audio bootleg. I don't care if they're saying they're legit,because they're not. Those things are TOO CHEAP (in price) to be legitimate.

It's up to you, but I personally would just scour ebay for a used, US version.

[k8track]

My first gut reaction was a "crappy bootleg" red flag, but was hoping there was a slim chance that these could be legitimate Asian versions (if such things even exist). The seller has hardly any negs, which gives me a ray of hope.

[Darth Sensei]

I asked a similar question about the James Bond Box Sets on ebay as well. I passed.

[TisLord]

I bought a x-files asian collector's set and unless you are a dvd buff you can not tell the difference if dome properly....its all up to you....

[Darth Sensei]

I bought a x-files asian collector's set and unless you are a dvd buff you can not tell the difference if dome properly....its all up to you....

The question is how can you tell if it's done properly or not?

[video_game_addict]

I bought a x-files asian collector's set and unless you are a dvd buff you can not tell the difference if dome properly....its all up to you....

The question is how can you tell if it's done properly or not?

I don't think there's any way to tell, unless someone reviews boots. ;)

I have bought a number of these anime sets off ebay, some I have compared to the originals. I have been very happy with the quality. Most of the sets I have bought have been dvd grade stuff, I honestly could not tell the difference in picture quality or sound. They may have all been dvd rips.

I would say better than 80% of the sets I have bought have been prefect, just a few that I can recall where there was any sound issues or artifacting.

But unless you try them out it's hard to say what you are gonna get.

As far as special features are concerned, some are possibly lost in these sets. With some larger legit box sets, you may not have any commentary, but maybe a bonus disc per volume. These may be combined together, if they are combining several seasons into one Asian box set, you might get 1 bonus disc where you might would have several (one for each legit box set) and there could be some missing bits, or maybe not..

I think every Bond disc had a featurette, but they were all the same, for every disc, so a bootleg set may cut these from the movies, and just include one bonus disc of the same featurette. So you really don't loose anything it's just been slimlined.

[MoreEbolaForYou]

it's a roll of the dice, but with pretty good odds. i have a friend that buys these things all of the time, and has been happy with the result at least 90% of the time. they're obviously bootlegs, but are usually pretty well done. picture quality is usually just as good as the real dvd releases. if all you want to do is watch it, odds are, you'll be quite happy with what you get.

[SegaAges]

I bought an asain bootleg dvd box set of street fighter 2v animated series awhile back and never had any problems with it. i could tell right away that it was, and the fact that the producer gave a yahoo e-mail address on the back of teh back gave me a good hint as well.

some of these are done very well, and i am very happy with mine.

[Darren870]

As long as there is a US dvd out then you should be fine. When i went to china this summer i bought a lot of bottlegs and the only ones that wern't great were the ones that didnt have a dvd box set out already. When there is one it seems like they just mass copy it.

[smork]

Don't overreact to the cheap price -- the box sets of seasons LEGITIMATELY run cheap in Asia (when you can find non-pirates, that is). Nobody will buy a season of some drama for $40, so they sell them alot cheaper so they can compete with the pirates that sell them for peanuts.

For example, HMV Hong Kong sells box sets of US series at at no more than 50% of the price you'd pay in America. Likewise with Tower Records here in Malaysia, or Scorpion in Thailand. All these are legitimate versions, and cost considerbaly more than a pirate (but less than the West).

That's not to say these box sets aren't pirates, but don't be warned off because of the price alone.

[Darren870]

In china it works like this you pay $1.20 per disc. So for example the x-files box set is 62 DVDS which cost me $74.40.

You have to go to a DVD shop though not just a market with random people on the streets.

So for an x-files complete box set $100 isn't so bad really. Any more and well id just fly to china ;)

[jajaja]

http://cgi.ebay.com/The-Simpsons-Complete-seasons-1-2-3-4-5-6Boxset-New_W0QQitemZ6439834293QQcategoryZ617QQcmdZViewIte m

6 seasons of the simpsons, 32 dvds, all for $42. I would say the chances that these are bootleg are 99%.